Gig Review: The Splinters @ Valhalla, Wellington – 24/04/2026

When I signed up to review Friday’s gig, I had the mistaken belief that I was going to see foundational Kiwi punk rockers The Spines, who, 43 years on, still smash out a scar-worthy thrasher of a live show. It wasn’t until the day before that I realised I was, in fact, going to see The Splinters, a relatively fresh Gen Z punk band I was unfamiliar with.

Gen Z has just as many talented and creative original musicians as every generation before, and anyone who says different is guaranteed to be composed 98% of pure boomer energy. But, when it comes to punk rock, most (but not all) of what I have seen feels more like a feckless imitation of Johnny Rotten’s balls… and that’s just not quite my tempo.

I figured I’d look up The Splinters and scope out the vibe a bit. I read how they were inspired by primordial British punk culture, its rebellious political awareness and artistic activism. I listened to their single Fickle Creature and it was fine. That’s not meant to be a criticism, I always prefer my punk music raw and live straight from the teat and there’s something fundamental to punk that just can’t be captured and tucked away on record.

I walked into Wellington’s premier rock venue, Valhalla, to the opening act Homing warming up the crowd, an energetic folky harmonica was wailing over some heavy melodic rock, reminiscent of Bob Dylan’s paradigm-shifting performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. It was good… really good. Their laid back indie style was the perfect groove to welcome punters in and set the mood for the evening. For a band so fresh on the scene they have real confidence and presence in their performance, there was a sense of joyous enthusiasm permeating the otherwise brooding coolness, hanging a 90’s-esque aura around the stage which made me feel welcome as an old-timer.

My only gripe was that just as I began to get into the vibe, I looked up and noticed that the projector screen was violating the ambience with a horrific montage of Fortnite clips and video game captures. On this holy ground, the ancient art of ecstatic performance was being mutilated into some kind of TikTok-ified monstrosity. It hurt my soul to have live artists performing their hearts out only to be sharing the stage with a totally unrelated visual distraction. There is not much in this world I hold sacred, but if anything, it’s live music, and a venue is the church in which we honour its spirit.

So, I spoke to every Gen Z punter I could find about the underlying nature of this travesty. I was genuinely surprised by how openly self-aware and consistent the responses I got were including: “a lot of us can find it hard to socialise and make eye contact so it helps to have something to look at”, “screen addiction”, and “our attention spans are so fucked we need constant visual stimulation to stay entertained.” I thought to myself, that is so much worse than I had possibly imagined, like if this is where we are at as a society, that live music is no longer stimulating enough to captivate and we can’t even make eye contact with each other without some kind of visual pacifier, then I think maybe the accelerationists might be right and it’s about time we just burn this puppy down and start over fresh.

I headed outside and before I could give it much more thought, I was introduced to Gus, the lead singer from The Splinters, and asked for his take on the Fortnite venue massacre inside. I can’t remember his exact words but he basically said, “It’s weird, why would you do that at a live show, gigs are a place to connect not escape”. It was this exact moment I had the sudden realisation just how much I’ve been cultivating the exact kind of smug gatekeeping pomposity I had so much disdain for when I was coming up 20 years ago. Gus is one of the most interesting creative minds I have met in a long time, the passion he has for his craft is infectious, and his relationship to punk is so much more than playing dress ups and crunching guitar, I know a rebel when I see one, and I saw one right there.

I re-entered the vaunted gates of Valhalla with a renewed enthusiasm to find Park Flyers absolutely tearing up a now thunderously raucous dance floor. Never in my life have I witnessed people that smell so good and mosh so hard, they were quite literally jumping off the stage, while crowd surfing and dancing with the kind of unbridled energetic enthusiasm that is the living breathing life force of live music culture. The video games were still playing on the projector, but no one needed it for emotional support. I saw nothing but a positively electrified crowd living so in the moment that if they tripped they would fall over into the future.

Park Flyers is a name I had heard around town, but I was unprepared for just how epic a performance the two Tauranga natives can put on. Their sound is a kaleidoscopic blend of hardcore, screamo, emo waves and technique-heavy math rock. But when filtered through their stripped-back two-piece set up, what emerged was a uniquely chaotic symphony of classic riffs and manic tones with a dynamic intensity that punctuated the complex dialogue of multi-layered polyrhythmic grooves, like random jump scares in a horror movie.

It came as no surprise that Felix (vocals/guitar) and Ezra (drums) have been mates since primary school and literally grew up playing music together. Their primal synergy on stage felt instinctive and spoke of a long cultivated musical relationship, the kind that can only come from years of practice and an almost telepathically shared creative vision. The intricacy of their music was matched by the intensity of their performance – it wasn’t until halfway through their set that I realised they were only a two-piece – their massive sound and stage presence dominated the space like giants.

If my ignorantly uncharitable illusions had not already yet been shattered, when The Splinters took the stage by opening their set with an instrumental rendition of Dazed and Confused, I was truly faced with the gravity of the folly in my judgments. Frontman Gus artfully channeled Robert Plant’s soulful and iconic wail through a saxophone as the rest of the band broiled with restrained intensity until the devil himself cried out releasing a thunderous cacophony of rock and roll so pure even a blood sacrifice pales in comparison.

I wish I could say more about their actual music, but The Splinters captivating performance was spellbinding. Guitarists were jumping into the crowd and instruments were swapped around on stage like artisanal cocaine. Any muppet with functioning knees can jump around on a stage, but The Splinters took the stage itself and made it their own, inviting the crowd to come and witness acts of glorious chaos as they are churned into a smooth Dionysian punk butter. The electric atmosphere in the room made you wonder how long it will be before these wizards channel all that dark energy into just starting their own cult… and that if they do… will let me join it?

What I can say is that mixed in with their original music were a series of foundational rock covers building a narrative throughout the set like a sonic needle threaded through time, linking music that was, to what is, and peeking over the edge of what’s yet to be. Songs like The Beatles’ Day Tripper and Idles’ Never Fight a Man with a Perm were nailed with precision by these lads. A rendition of Shihad’s historic anthem Home Again brought the whole crowd in to sing along, and hit so close to the true source that an apparition of Jon Toogood momentarily appeared on stage and with an approving nod evaporated in a cloud of distortion. The set finished off with their single Fickle Creature, the very same song I had humbugged not 24 hours ago. But with eyes and ears now unbridled with pompous snark, what I heard in the song is the culmination of the styles and artists they paid homage to over the set, simultaneously nostalgic yet unique and original. In other words, it’s a really good song and you should go and listen to it.

The world itself may be fucked

but as for the kids?

Pete Townshend was right all along The kids ARE alright.

and as for live music…

LIVE MUSIC

is in safe fucking hands.

Photo Credit: Finn Zemba for Muzic.NZ
The Splinters Photo Gallery
Park Flyers Photo Gallery
Homing Photo Gallery